Travels with Forty Roses: Finally!!

We are elated, exhausted and simply happy to be “home” in our beautiful Forty Roses III.

Judge Boonekamp from the Court of Arnhem made a ruling entirely in our favour…so much so that all we had to do was make our final contract payment and we are free. Papers were handed off Thursday morning and the builder had to release the boat or face a fine of €5000 per day unless he did. Two wonderful friends came with us, Jon and Hans to help with casting off and traversing the first river, lock and canal, as well as acting as witnesses to the handover. We found the boat dirty inside and out and without many items that were supposed to be on it. But, we don’t care, we have been waiting since October for this day and we have it. Cleaning, scrubbing, unpacking things that have been in boxes since last year has been just like Christmas. We have a very special Nautische Advocaten to thank in Joris Klompé. Despite an avalanche of paper from the builder and his lawyer, Joris kept the whole thing simple and has been successful on our behalf. We are very grateful for his help through all this torture. And should any of you decide to take a wild hare and build a boat in Netherlands we will recommend speaking with Joris, our Surveyor Guido Beekmann and ourselves before the undertaking! We can write a book.

But true to form, just as we were ready to cast off, the builder’s lawyer’s representative, calling himself a bailiff stepped aboard and served us with yet another Seizure as it is called here. They had not yet filed it with the Court so we are unsure if it is “real” at this point but leave it in the capable hands of Joris. He simply said, ‘go and enjoy your boat’ and that is what we plan to do. As my Father used to say, “we shall cross that bridge when we come to it”, or in our case, go underneath it.

We have much to accomplish in the next week as my sister and her husband will join us on Saturday. We just wanted to share with you the fact that we are on board, delighted, and solving many problems with the help of some wonderful Dutch Boatmen who have been assisting us in going through every inch of the boat to find all the issues and create solutions. Ballast being the first order of the day.

We received the good news about the Court decision as we were on the ferry from Dover to Dunkerque, as we enjoyed a wonderful Easter weekend with Blythe, Jim and Annabel along with Jim’s Father. We laughed, played Liar’s Dice and ate all the good things that come with such a weekend. We flew kites, played games, decorated a bunny and simply enjoyed a family time. To top that off with news of the boat release was the ‘cream on the pudding’. Annabel and Pomps/John oversaw all dessert making and they were very good at this job. Cream was a feature both frozen and poured.

We are sharing some photos of that happy weekend and only a couple of the boat. She needs a very good scrub, windows washed and a shine on her deck before we can show her to you. Fast and furiously we are making her ready and photos will follow shortly.

Thank you for all your kind words and support…without family and friends old and new, it would have been very difficult getting through all this.